Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-07-17

stop a bit, missile. | will go and light
a candle; | have some in there, and they
can't see the light from the outside and
accordingly he vanished. Ina lew seconds
he returned, and, taking her by the sleeve,
led her along \ winding passage between
great powders, till they came TO u beehOle
i'm the rocks, through which she could see
the light shining. Going down on his
hands and knees Jamie crept through aud
Jess followed him. She found herselfin a
small apartment, about six feet square by
eight high, principally formed by the nc.
cideutal falling together of several big
powders, and rooted in by n great
natural slab. The place, which was lighted
by an end of candle stuck upon the floor,
was very dirty, as Wa to be expected from
a Hottentot's den, and in it were collected
An enormous variety OF odds and ends. As,
discarding a three legged stool that JantJe
offered her, Jess sank down upon a pile OF
skins in the corner, her eye fell upon a col
lection worthy Of an old-rag-and-bOne shop.
The sides of the chamber were teStOoned
with every imaginable garment, from the
white full-dress Goa OF an Austrian officer
down TO q shocking pair OF cOrdurOyS
.Iaptie had lifted" from the body of q
bushman which he had discovered in his
rambles. All these were in various stages
of decay, and obviously the result OF years
of patient collecting. In the corners again
were sticks, kerries, and two assegais, a
number of gueer-shLped stones and bones,
handles of broken t~able-knives, bits of the
locks of guns, portions OF au American
clock, and various other articles which this
human iackdaw had picked up and hidden
away here. Altogether 1t was a strange
place; and it vaguely occurred to Jess, as
she sank back upOn the dirty skins, that,
had it not been for the old clothes and the
wreck of the American clock, she would
have seen Il very fair example Of the dwell
logs of primeyal man.
stop before you begin she said.
"Have you anything to eat here? | am
nearly starving"
Jantie grinned knowingly, and, grub,
| bling ip q heap Of rubbish In the corner,
tished out q gourd with u pice of fiat sheet
iron which had once formed the back plate
of a stove, placed on the top. 1t contained
''maas." or curdled buttermllk, which a
woman had brought him down that very
morning from a neighboriug kraal, and
was destined for Jantje's Own supper.
Hungry as he was himself, for be had had
no focd all day, he gave it TO jess without
a moments hesitation, together with a
wooden spoon, and, squatting on the rock
before her, watched her eat it with gut
tural ordinations of satisfaction. Not
knowing that she was robbing a hungry
man, Jess ate the mass to the last spoonful,
and was grateful to feel the sensation of
gnawing sickness leave her.
Now" she said, tell me what you
mean"
Thereon jamie began at the beginning
and related the events of the day, so far as
he was acquainted with them. When be
came to where the old man was dragged,
with kicks and blows and iguominy, from
his own house, Jess eyes flashed, and she
positively ground her teeth with indigna-
ton, and as for her feelings, when she
learned that he wa condemned to death
and TO be shot at dawn on the morrow,
they simply battle description. OF the
Bessie complication Jantje was quite
ignorant, and could only tell her that
Frank Muller had an interview with her
sister in :he iittle plantation, and that after
that she was shut up in the store room,
where she still WAS. But this was quite
enough for jess, who knew Muller's
character better, perhaps, than anybody
else, and was not by any means ignorant
Of his designs upon Bessie. A few mo-
ments' thought put the key OF the matter
! into her hand. She saw now what was the
FSaSpa of the granting of the pass, and of
the d~eJegGiled and partially successful at
tempt at whoie.sis @urder Of which they
had been the victims. sEe saw, too, why
her old uncle had been condemned TO
death-that was to be used as q lever with
Bessie; the man was capable even of that.
Yes, she saw it all as clear as daylight:
and in hsr heart sac sSOre, helpless as she
seemed to be, that she ws2ld and a way
to prevent it. But what way? What xay9
All, if only John were herel But he was
not, 80 she must act without him, if only
she could see the way to action. She
thought first Of all of going down boldly
and facing Muller, and denOaucing him AS
= murderer before his men; but q moments